In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare cases prosecutorial and/or judge misconduct in the same jurisdiction. Double jeopardy is a common concept in criminal law - in civil law, a similar concept is that of res judicata. The double jeopardy protection in criminal prosecutions only bars an identical prosecution for the same offense, however, a different offense may be charged on identical evidence at a second trial. Res judicata protection is stronger - it precludes any causes of action or claims that arise from a previously litigated subject matter.
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the United States, an acquittal prohibits the retrial of the accused for the same offense, even if new evidence surfaces that further implicates the accused. The effect of an acquittal on criminal proceedings is the same whether it results from a jury verdict or results from the operation of some other rule that discharges the accused. In other countries, like Australia and the UK, the prosecuting authority may appeal an acquittal similar to how a defendant may appeal a conviction — but usually only if new and compelling evidence comes to light or the accused has interfered with or intimidated a juror or witness.
The Outreau case refers to a criminal case of pedophilia which took place between 1997 and 2000 in Outreau in northern France and a partial judicial error which led to provisional detentions between 2001 to 2004. Following alerts launched by social services within the Delay family, a long investigation seemed to reveal an extensive pedophile network: around forty adults are accused and around fifty children are potentially victims.
The 2006 Minato Ward elevator accident was an incident in June 2006 which shook Japanese public confidence in the safety of elevators around the country. In June 2006, in Minato, Tokyo, a 16-year-old high school student was killed by an elevator maintained by SEC Elevator Co Ltd ("SEC") but originally manufactured and maintained by another elevator manufacturer and maintenance company. He was backing out of it with his bicycle when the elevator suddenly rose with the doors still open, causing asphyxiation. Investigations began relating to this fatality.
The Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides: "[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb..." The four essential protections included are prohibitions against, for the same offense:
The Bowraville murders is the name given to three deaths that occurred over five months from September 1990 to February 1991 in Bowraville, New South Wales, Australia. All three victims were Aboriginal, and all disappeared after parties in Bowraville's Aboriginal community, in an area known as The Mission. A local labourer, who was regarded by police as the prime suspect, was charged with two of the murders but was acquitted following trials in 1994 and 2006. On 13 September 2018, the New South Wales Court of Criminal Appeal decided that the man could not be retried for the murders. On 22 March 2019, the High Court of Australia refused an application by the Attorney General of New South Wales to bring an appeal against that decision.
This is a list of notable overturned convictions in Canada.
Blueford v. Arkansas, 566 U.S. 599 (2012), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that clarified the limits of the Double Jeopardy Clause. The Supreme Court held that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not bar retrial of counts that a jury had previously unanimously voted to acquit on, when a mistrial is declared after the jury deadlocked on a lesser included offense.
Sokichi Furutani was a Japanese serial killer, who in the span between October 30 and December 12, 1965, murdered eight elderly men in a robbery-murder spree. He is also suspected of being responsible for murders of four other men, two of them occurring in 1951.
Miyuki Ueta was a Japanese murderer and suspected serial killer, convicted of two murders in Tottori and possibly responsible for four others, starting from 2004 and lasting until October 2009.
Kanae Kijima, known as The Konkatsu Killer, is Japanese fraudster and serial killer, convicted for poisoning three would-be husbands and suspected of four more, spanning from 2007 to 2009.
On 15 September 2003, two Singaporean students and flatmates Tay Chow Lyang (郑潮亮) and Tony Tan Poh Chuan (陈宝川), were found brutally murdered in their flat in Sydney. The boys' fellow classmate and friend Ram Puneet Tiwary, also a Singaporean, was accused of these two violent murders. The case, dubbed the "Sydney double murders" in media, made headlines in both Singapore and Australia.
Yasunori Suzuki was a Japanese serial killer who robbed and killed three women in Fukuoka Prefecture between December 2004 and January 2005, raping two of them. He was sentenced to death for his crimes, and executed in 2019.
Hayato Imai is a Japanese serial killer who murdered three elderly people at a nursing home in Saiwai-ku, Kawasaki between November and December 2014. A former emergency medical technician, he was sentenced to death, and is currently trying to appeal said sentence.
Yasutoshi Kamata, known as The Osaka Ripper, was a Japanese serial killer responsible for the murder and dismemberment of four women and one girl in Osaka between 1985 and 1994. The case was designated by the National Police Agency as "Metropolitan Designated Case No. 122".
Takeshige Hamada was a Japanese serial killer who, together with his wife and two accomplices, murdered three people over life insurance policies in Fukuoka from 1978 to 1979. He was sentenced to death for his crimes, but died before he could be executed. At the time of his death, at the age of 90, he was the oldest convict on death row.
David Smith is an English repeat murderer, rapist and suspected serial killer who came to national prominence in 1999 when he was convicted of murdering a sex worker six years after having been acquitted of an "almost identical" murder. Cleared of the murder of 33-year-old west London sex worker Sarah Crump in 1993, Smith was found guilty in 1999 of the killing of 21-year-old Paddington sex worker Amanda Walker. Smith has since been linked to a number of other murders of sex workers across Britain.
Liang Shan Shan was a 17-year-old Malaysian schoolgirl who was reported missing in Singapore on 2 October 1989. Liang was found dead nearly two weeks later at Yishun Industrial Park, where her highly decomposed body was discovered by a group of National Servicemen who were training nearby that area. Despite conducting a post-mortem examination, the cause of Liang's death was uncertain due to the high state of decomposition and disappearance of certain body parts. Police investigations revealed that prior to her disappearance and murder, Liang was last seen boarding her school bus and left the school at 1pm on 2 October 1989, the same day she went missing.
Ramapiram Kannickaisparry, also known as Ramipiram Kannickaisparry, was an Indian-born Singaporean woman who was found dead in a forested area of Sembawang on 17 April 1995. Ramapiram was last seen alive six hours before her corpse was discovered, with thirteen stab wounds on her head and neck, and her body showed signs of being run over by a vehicle. The police classified the case of her death as murder, and three days later, a 40-year-old man named Nadasan Chandra Secharan, who was the younger brother of Ramapiram's brother-in-law, was arrested and charged with her murder. Investigations and court proceedings revealed that Ramapiram and Nadasan were engaged in an illicit love affair with each other, even though both were married to different spouses and had children.
